News

New EverQuest II Features Revealed

SOE reveals major class changes, new spells and combat arts to EverQuest II!

After the recent round of beta tests, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has listened to feedback from the testers and will be implementing changes and new features over the next few weeks as it gears up for the November launch of EverQuest II.

Character individualization in EverQuest II has been a hot topic following the recent lifting of the NDA, so SOE wanted to provide some more information about new features intended to give players a greater sense of personalization and uniqueness in the game.

In EverQuest II, you start out as a basic class, for instance, a mage. When you achieve a certain level, you stop being a mage and become a sorcerer. After you gain sufficient levels there, you automatically become a wizard.

The way that characters progress from lower- to higher-tier classes has changed. Whereas before they kept learning spells from their old classes, now they'll stop doing such and instead get ones pertaining to their new classes. What this means is that there will no longer be a "level 44 mage spell," because as a high-level wizard, you should never think of yourself as a level 44 mage in EverQuest II.

Here is a rundown of some of the new character features:

Training Specialized Abilities

This means that the new system will allow players to hook up certain class-specific abilities to their liking. If you have a certain fire spell that you like, you can make it more powerful. Everyone can choose a different one.

Character Traits

This lets players choose certain special traits for their characters
regardless of their race and class. It's basically just another way for
players to individualize their characters. For example, you can make it
so that your guy has a few more points of intelligence, more hit points,
etc.

Racial Traditions

Every race has new abilities, which players can choose for their characters.
The rat people can learn to forage for food so they don't have to buy
it, and the lizard people can have stronger scales as natural armor.

Enemy Mastery

This lets players take on quests that allow their characters to fight
certain types of monsters more effectively.